Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

It was all a dream, a social media dream. When I went public with my Hodgkin’s Lymphoma story, it was early 2016. I don’t think I even knew how to fully use Instagram. Essentially I’ve seen it all. The good, the bad, the ugly. I think social media is great because it helped me get through one of the most difficult periods of my life and connected me with some of the best friends I’ve met. They all had cancer…

Hi. I’m Jess. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been following my journey for awhile. Everyone always asks me “my story”, because in a healthcare system that is designed to have doctors double book as many patients as possible, often leading to misdiagnoses and even death, I was one of the lucky patients. I was one of the very few that came out alive from the 4th floor ICU at my cancer center. Everyone knows that most people on the…

Sit back and let me tell you a little secret about life. I don’t know what I’m doing. No one else knows what they’re doing either. Trust me, no one. You’re probably freaking out that you lost so much time out of your life going through treatment. You don’t know what to do next. You feel like you should be in a different chapter of your life. I did the same thing during and after Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. FREEZE! Stop right there.…

Dating after cancer, the subject that everyone wants to know about, but no one wants to actually discuss. Everyone is different. No one handles any aspect of treatment, or life after treatment the same. I went SO public with my journey, that if someone asks for my name, they immediately google me and ALL of this crazy shit pops up, even in different languages. GIRL DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE FOUR CANCER! ETC ETC. I sometimes google my name and am like…

Why you should always have cancer friends! Life is crazy and unpredictable. One minute you’re standing and the next, you’re face down on the ground. Your friends and family can try to help you as much as they can, but unfortunately like everything else in life, you never know how it truly is until it happens to you. When I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last year, I couldn’t find any info. I couldn’t find any guides. I couldn’t find…

30 things I’ve learned 1. Life is freaking short! If you want to do something, do it. Always live like it’s your last day on earth, because you never know when that day is. For us cancer survivors, we get that. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, and you don’t either. Live while you can. Respect your health and that you’re alive, unfortunately not everyone does. 2. Family is everything. Spend as much time with them as possible. And…

To all of my cancer fighters, I was you this time last year. I’m writing to let you know that this time last year, I was in your shoes. I was you. I completely get what you’re going through right now, because I was there. Don’t worry, what you’re feeling is normal. This is all normal. Around this exact time last year, was about two weeks after my first chemo. This exact night is the first time I ran my…

A Letter to all of the doctors that misdiagnosed me: It’s officially been one year since I went into respiratory failure. One year since I was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. One year since not only my life changed, but the lives of all of my friends and family changed. One year since I woke up in the ICU, after being transferred to Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, to Dr. Izidore Lossos, who essentially saved my life. One year since…

Be kind to everyone, for everyone is fighting their own battle. The world is full of kind people, if you can’t find one, then become one. People are judged every single day, whether we realize it or not. And I think it’s getting to the point where it’s actually becoming heartbreaking. So how do we deal with this? Well, here is what I’ve learned over the past year in my battle with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. In a world full of unkind…